Not a word about culture in the Budget speech, but information about the implications on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is dribbling through. And frankly, given the circumstances, it looks like good news.

Of the £15bn in savings Darling is announcing over the following three years, a relatively small £168m is to come out of the DCMS budget over that period.

Of that, £20m is to come out of the 2010-11 budget.And of that, £4m is to come out of Arts Council England's pot.

(This information is now officially confirmed.)

In other words, the department as a whole, and ACE in particular, is taking less of a hit than other areas of government. A sigh of relief is in order.

Not that it will be easy for everyone. ACE will make a later decision about how to spread the cuts between arts organisations – probably not evenly, it has said.

It could have been a lot worse.

Update, 4pm: the DCMS has been on the line: apparently Andy Burnham, secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport, is in discussions with James Purnell at the Department for Work and Pensions about the Future Jobs Fund - the new scheme to create 100,000 jobs. Burnham will be arguing to as many as possible in cultural industries and the arts, apparently.